Dubuque Police and the Consumer Protection Division of Iowa have received numerous reports of a scam in which a caller purports to represent a federal, state, or local government agency – in most cases the Internal Revenue Service (I.R.S.).
The call recipient is told s/he has an outstanding tax, debt, or fee of some sort that if not taken care of immediately, will result in court litigation, loss of government benefit(s) or even arrest. The caller tells the call recipient to use a credit/debit card or pre-paid debit card (such as a Green Dot card) to pay. Legitimate federal, state, and local governmental agencies do not make calls of this nature. Additionally, as a reminder, caller I.D. systems can be “spoofed” to make incoming calls appear to be originating from a legitimate source – in this case, the I.R.S. If a person wishes to verify s/he does not owe money to a governmental agency, call that agency direct at a verified number.
How to Report Scam
• Victims who lost money through an IRS scam or any government impersonation scam should report the loss to law enforcement.
• Citizens who were not scammed but who wish to report any government imposter scam can report it to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through the FTC Complaint Assistant at www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov.
• Citizens who want to verify whether they owe federal taxes or penalties should contact the IRS directly. The IRS assistance number is 1-800-829-1040.
• Citizens who were not scammed but who wish to report being contacted by an IRS impersonator can report it to the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Taxpayer Administration (TIGTA): http://www.treasury.gov/tigta or 1-800-366-4484.